it may not seem so serious. but this could be a real threat. to. european extremists. she's been talking about that a lot she said she said mommy i can't get that body out of my head i keep seeing it it's been three days since the connecticut school massacre shook the nation to its core and already we're starting to see and hear the urgent need for better gun control but how much can president obama actually do to create any change the latest from newtown on the bigger implications of this incident may help on the u.s. we are the most transparent the three. issues come to. the press secretary jay carney talks transparency at a white house briefing despite claiming to be the most transparent administration

in history there are more than a few dark spots on the president's record will shed some light on the issue just ahead. and it's been two years to the day since the tunisian street vendor set himself on fire sparking the arab spring now there are new government leaders so what is really changed in the middle east to take a look back over the past couple years i mean. it's monday december seventeenth four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for you're watching our team. while much of this country today is still in shock devastated over the deaths of twenty children and six adults murdered at a connecticut elementary school friday morning newtown connecticut has been described as a picturesque a quiet new england town and there are no words to truly describe the horror of

what happened or the sense of loss residents there are feeling president obama spoke to the community yesterday evening in an attempt to try to bring the country together in this time of crisis we can't tolerate this anymore these tragedies must and and to end them we must change. we will be told that the causes of such violence are complex and that is true no single law no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society but that can't be an excuse for inaction surely we can do better than this if there's even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the

grief that's visited tucson and aurora. and oak creek and newtown and communities from columbine to blacksburg before that. then surely we have an obligation to try lars a correspondent on a saucy as her going to travel to sandy hook after news of the shooting happened she spent much of the weekend there and has more parents holding their kids a little tighter and a little longer these days oh gosh i'm so glad that i have so many opportunities to tell them i love you i'm so glad you're mine i'm so glad that you're in our family i'm so glad. you're here here i'm still so glad that i'm having breakfast with you this morning candles. flowers toys.

and grief have filled newtown i keep hearing on the news over and over about the parents i went there and or evil to get their kids and those that had to be told that their kids were called hope. and i can't imagine that if i was in their shoes as a parent that my daughter wouldn't pick up with the twenty first graders none of them older than seven were killed in a mass shooting at school twenty year old adam lanza lived with his mother nancy in a well off residential neighborhood on friday morning he shot and killed her with her own gun got into a car drove about ten minutes to sandy hook elementary quoting two witnesses he didn't say a word during the rampage eight year old zachary was saved by his teachers my youngest son since and you have school and. he was in a classroom right near where the shooting took place and he was with a reading teacher just him in the reading teacher and she closed the door and took him into the bathroom they said bathroom floor until police came and said prayers

and just stayed very quiet until the police came six school employees were also killed in the shooting including the favorite one of them devon in the midst of palestinian land that you would like him for. the six and nine year olds held a garage sale with their family after surviving the shooting with proceeds going to their school they did tell them to close their eyes my my daughter. course she never listens so she she didn't and she's pretty she's been talking about that a lot she said she said mommy i can't get that body out of my head i keep saying at people's emotions are stretched to the limit make an end here like make it worth something we could mean something good you can't be too bad you could create change change that heartbroken locals are now demanding. strict severe gun control. but it's really a look in the second amendment to bear arms but then when it was written three

hundred years ago two hundred fifty years ago the forefathers never thought that it would come to this while politicians don't have the power to bring back the twenty little children who used to play on these streets they do have the power to decide what happens next in a country where two hundred seventy million firearms almost one per person are in private possession. and r.t.e. newtown connecticut. well at this point i suspected shooter twenty year old adam lanza appeared to not have a motive he used weapons to break into the school shot helpless innocent children and their protectors as well he is believed to shot and killed his mother first before taking what were her legally purchased guns to sandy hook elementary now the question of a mentally unstable young man having access to several guns has brought the discussion about guns and gun control to the forefront i want to bring in on a saucy h.r. going to his report you just saw into this discussion and about the time she spent

in sandy hook hey there anastasio first question for you i mean what was your experience in sandy hook over the weekend you said parents are demanding change what do they hope happens next. well that christine you know to describe what's going on on the ground i think if we take all the words in the dictionary and combine them together there really is no way to describe no words to find to describe the heartbreak really the grief the sadness the tears that we saw on the ground this town is really at the epitome of grief during this holiday season you know it's just such a heartbreaking thing to see these you know houses with lights and people were in the mood to celebrate the holidays and then this happened and it just brought everybody down to to a completely completely destroyed state of mind and people are not even beginning to pick up the pieces yet of course the funerals started today and the people we did speak to the locals there saying like you saw on that report we need to change

this this has got to stop there have been way too many shootings in the united states there have been you know in u.s. history hundreds of shootings this is of course one of the most frightening ones because of the ages of these little kids who were targeted and ever since columbine we've already seen dozens of these shootings take place and people are saying when is enough enough how many deaths does it have to take how many families and children and parents have to suffer and they are saying that it's time to really for the politicians to pull themselves together and finally do something about this and honest as you we heard from the president who said you know one walk cannot fix what's wrong but he did pledge action but what can really be done i mean what would have prevented friday's incident from happening. well you know of course all the people in connecticut and across the united states and probably the world are asking themselves that question but i'm afraid we might not really know the answer you know a very important point to bring up of course you know connecticut is

a very well off state really went through the economic crisis well you know just people are well off so why doesn't a state like this a mother with a son need to have three guns in her house it's not really clear to me and to many of the people that we've spoken to what what was the need you know people are saying if maybe this man this twenty year old man did not have access to his mother's guns that could have been something that might have prevented it but then again you know he could have found gone somewhere else and if this didn't happen on friday it would have happened on monday there really are no answers to that question i'm afraid i want to put up some numbers just to put in perspective some of the system statistics of guns i know you mentioned some in your report and this is not to take a side but just to kind of get some of those numbers out there the united states is the most heavily armed country in the world per capita there are an estimated two hundred seventy million guns in the hands of civilians in this country now the country with the second most is the yemen and last year the f.b.i.

fielded nearly sixteen point five million queries from firearm sellers for background checks what do you think on offense you can really be gleaned from these numbers i mean the second place country after the u.s. has a distant second it's yemen we're not seeing other western countries up there other countries with similar political systems is yemen. what's going on here. good question christi and you know considering almost every every american almost nine and nine guns for ten americans in this country i mean it just it's just really mind boggling why does the united states need to have so many guns in private possession because yemen of course you know it comes in second but there's a huge huge difference in the numbers between yemen and the united states and yemen is a conflict torn country there is poverty going on there the united states is a democratic nation where you know most places are safe so why all of these people

need to have all of these guns why they have to be so available why the united states has to sort of over arm itself by you know hands and teeth and guns everywhere and they're so easily accessible you know people go to a pharmacy they need to provide prescriptions in the u.s. in many states you barely need anything to get to be able to lay your hands on a gun and it's it's just it's really just shocking and you know i think it's worth bringing up you know when nine eleven happened for example of course we've seen the crazy beefed up security right at airports and things like that but dozens and dozens and dozens of school shootings take place in this country and anybody can still walk into a school and commit this kind of this outrage why that is still the case is just really unclear yeah interesting too especially you know as the internet has grown there are now ways to get guns online of course as gun shows that you see advertised all over the place it does bring about certainly some interesting questions and these are questions that you know we're really focused on over the

weekend especially in some of these big time shows so who is far is this question about the role of guns in our society sunday's meet the press was just one of many they had several stories about this now the executive producer betsy fisher martin tweeted this she said by the way we reached out to all thirty one pro-gun rights senators in congress to invite them to share their views on meet the press no takers so you know if these new laws are made at this point it's hard to know what the opposition would even look like. but with very strong views on this subject usually wouldn't even show their faces well oh this is really not a good time for anybody to come onto any t.v. network and start you know defending the possession of guns in the united states you know considering how much grief and sorrow people are experiencing i can kind of understand why these lawmakers would not show face on t.v. and try to defend this position because when something like this happens you know

opinion shifts of course when it comes to children's lives and then you know defending the rights of people who want to possess guns and certainly you know something that's a very controversial topic right now and they don't dare raise this issue but you know christine we also have to remember that in this country more or less half of the population supports gun control and the country is split and half believes that it's a civil right and it's a right that americans are entitled to so whether or not any legislation good strong legislation can be passed to prevent these kinds of things is a question we're going to have to wait and see exactly what kind of steps lawmakers take and what the u.s. president takes but certainly i'm sure people are going to be demanding this kind of something to happen so that these situations are so they don't happen in the future over and over and over again. certainly this discussion is just beginning as far as what will be done about it i don't think anyone really knows right now are

to correspondent honest in our studios in new york thanks so much for your reporting. also ahead on our team for being the most transparent administration in history and there are so numerous questions the obama administration refuses to answer about a few of them straight ahead. well

today is bradley manning's twenty fifth birthday he spent the better part of his twenty's behind bars charged with leaking thousands of classified documents to the whistle blowing web site which. but of all of.

that there are horrific crimes outlined in some of these documents and also shown in this video of two apache helicopter pilots gunning down people on the ground below them now there is still a lot we don't know about this case but from what we understand bradley manning a private first class army intelligence analyst thought he was reporting wrongdoing now he's the one accused of committing wrong it has been a common thread woven throughout history of blaming the messenger and then stifling discussion about the actual message over the last four years tactics have included cutting off funding to wiki leaks keeping private manning not only behind bars but for the first ten months of his incarceration in solitary confinement now even under the harsh u.s. military laws do not a soldier the ability to talk with others go outside wear clothes in many instances denying him a speedy trial all of these are illegal and on heard of until now and also during the last four years president obama has used the espionage act to prosecute people more than all other presidents before him combined still on friday the spokesman

for president obama's press secretary jay carney was asked about transparency here is that exchange one issue to one. of the most transparent. and there are a couple audible laughs in the room and a few minutes later i followed up on the subject. thank you i want to be back here on about transparency and ask your coming to you leaks founder julian assange still in the ecuadorian embassy want to get your response one of the reasons he hasn't returned in for questioning. because the action u.s. where is the obama administration the investigation on me and what is your response to those. joining us on bradley manning are examples of the president being anything but. entirely disagree and in terms of investigations of that nature i

would refer you to the department of justice. so as you can see there seems to be no effort on the part of the obama administration to talk about this or or any other issues about transparency when the issue was taken to the state department that spokesman p.j. crowley was more or less forced to resign after telling a university audience that the treatment of bradley manning was counterproductive and stupid so as far as transparency there does remain a huge gap in what's being said and what's being done to foster a more honest and open government. two years ago today tunisian fruit vendor mohamed bouazizi set himself on fire as a form of protest what followed has seemed to change the world forever but what has really changed as new governments form in middle eastern countries like tunisia and egypt how different really are the new bosses from the old ones and one of the changes meant for american influence in the region are the correspondent arena glu

show has more. it began here in tunisia two years ago when a poverty stricken from vendor certain cell phone fire in an act of desperation some say he was a hero others say he was a drunkard with a history of psychological problems whatever more hollow was uses real motivation was his act of self immolation set up a string of events which became known as the arab spring decades old regimes were toppled what came to replace them is hardly what most of the people in these countries had in mind when they were doing the revolutions they wanted freedom of speech and free elections brought on their tables and jobs what they got seems to be a very different result patrician a swore strike comparison to what. and comparison to the years before. the revolution personally i don't feel safe. when we see. all the violence of the police sore or of the

salafist. if unpoliced men are attacked by some naturists. and there are less freedoms right now when it comes to and they were doing freedoms there are at their acts on individual freedoms every day i received so many messages from girls saying but they were horus the. street even by police men. who didn't tolerate their or their way off but there are saying this used to be a common pattern in the countries that i shared the so-called arab spring just two years ago hopes of transition from authoritarian regimes to new democratic forms of government seem to have bolted rising islamists and economies in shambles and increasing just content the pattern is the same internation egypt where people are pouring out on the streets again with

a minute. sest though only months ago they were rallying in support of the muslim brotherhood and the freedom and justice party during the elections i think a lot of people did vote for the muslim brotherhood in egypt because they wanted economic changes not just getting rid of mubarak and having morsi and morsi no he's obviously. a very different political figure to mubarak in terms of his ideology has carried on much the same policies in terms of economic policy in libya the uprising to comply the turn moammar gadhafi who ruled the country for over forty years but deposed and killed in two thousand and eleven they knew he'd be in government has been struggling to control parts of the country going as far as besieging the entire town of bani walid for allegedly providing shelter to diehard kind of his supporters the are using heavy machinery to demolish it demolished houses second be using now. guys are going to there's a feeling people children and now i'm dead got really sick reaming we would not

humanity of the one of the two please help us save our family. i got this time to make libya now the quantum a place where no one can stop them and they have unlimited money and weapons the western leaders were quick to praise changes across the middle east they said it was the beginning of a new democratic era for the region but the model of democracy they may have had in mind doesn't seem to be the right fit i think it has to be a different type of a democratic system. the democracy that the u.s. would like to impose upon egypt tunisia and morocco and the other countries throughout the region and even libya where what was waged last year to topple the gadhafi government is not suitable to the people inside of that region in tunisia even goes. switching gears now the discussion here in washington about the fiscal

cliff has brought on strong opinions about what to cut and what to keep is also brought about loud calls to keep defense spending intact and of the need to keep our members of the military protected and safe both on the battleground and back at home but it turns out drug abuse is running rampant at one of the very places paid for and run by the government the v.a. and as our to correspondent liz wahl discovered those in charge seem to be turning a blind eye to what is becoming a growing trend. the department of veterans affairs administers health care to military veterans with an annual budget of over eighty seven billion dollars it's the largest department in the united states after the defense department at the v.a. medical center in washington d.c. it's no secret that if you want drugs you can get them there. it's common knowledge that this veteran doesn't want to show his identity but says

drug dealing happens here on the second floor smoke deck outside the emergency room is another known hot spot someone. who just you know. said do you think some people come to the hospital to just to get drugs. veterans across the country come here to get medical care but this medical center faces many obstacles with a budget pushed to the limit doctors struggle to provide adequate health care meanwhile drug abuse here runs rampant. from alcohol to prescriptions to illegal drugs addiction among vets comes in many forms the institute of medicine is calling drug abuse in the u.s. military a public health crisis their recent study shows binge drinking rose to forty seven percent in two thousand and eight and eleven percent engage in drug abuse and these habits often come home with them when he came home he was never quite the same and

he suffered greatly. his depression was intense and he eventually began to misuse alcohol and from there he began to use cocaine jasmine tyler lost her brother when he overdosed on cocaine on his thirty seventh birthday she says when he returned from serving in the gulf war he came back a different person she says the tragedy could have been prevented i certainly think that intensified services through the veterans administration could have helped them but they're just understaffed and underfunded and so the volume of soldiers. just experience a dearth of service opportunities and options available to the v.a. acknowledges there is room for improvement there's also a need for the system to adapt and to recognize what are the evidence based practices that we need to assure are going to be available some health experts recommend focusing on prevention and drug screening many believe that in-patient care is an effective in the long term.

some. of those services don't come cheap hospital rates per day range from one to five thousand dollars and it doesn't take long for those bills to add up and is that expensive service well not compared to the alternatives not compared to and stage disease and also to those some of the replications in the community. coming back from combat many service members and veterans battle addiction it's another huge burden that veterans their families and the taxpayers must bear in washington liz wall r t. so what's going on here why are men and women who are coming back from war being exposed to this type of lifestyle during the recovery process and there was anyone will be home held accountable for this be sure to tune in to our five pm a newscast where it will be joined by charles o'brien a doctor with comprehensive look at the health of our troops. but the company

account is coming up next on our team let's check in with lauren lister to see what's on the agenda today hello lauren happy monday i christine happy monday to you may not be a happy monday for u.b.s. the swiss bank is reportedly very close to a settlement over libel or rigging so this is the much bigger lie bourse scandal this is the second bank within that context to. reach a settlement deal reportedly with different here christine this is something we haven't seen a bank do since i can remember so typically we see them neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing this time the bank will admit to criminal wrongdoing reportedly it is japanese subsidiary so is there a hitch the japanese subsidiary not that make as a whole we'll talk to neil barofsky in a couple minutes to find out what exactly that means he's the former inspector general of tarp a fierce critic of wall street i'm sure he will have plenty to say oh

a little bit accountability here for the end of the year thanks lauren well that's going to do it for us for now but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or check out our website r t dot com slash usa and you can follow me on twitter i'm at christine.

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